Simplifying the Chinese visa regime is in the interest of British trade, competitiveness and growth

Unless we get our visa policies right, we in Britain are at great risk of
losing both the export and inward investment opportunities that China has to
offer.

Bargain hunters: The Chinese are among the biggest spenders when visiting Britain, figures show.Photo: Getty Images

By John Longworth, Director-general of the BCC

6:55AM GMT 30 Jan 2013

Visa systems are meant to do two things. On the one hand, they exist to protect national security, safeguard a country’s citizens, and protect its borders.

On the other, visas are meant to facilitate legitimate commerce and trade across borders, particularly with growing and dynamic countries like China.

Unfortunately, the visa system in place in Britain today is failing to deliver that second good. Companies are reporting ever-increasing frustrations as they seek to bring Chinese business visitors, potential inward investors, and skilled specialists to our shores.

I write today from China, where I have spent the past week on a trade mission, visiting the fast-growing businesses and infrastructure marvels that characterise the world’s second-largest economy and fastest-growing power. And my warning is stark: unless we get our visa policies right, we in Britain are at great risk of losing both the export and inward investment opportunities that China has to offer.

In recent months, Chamber member companies active in the Chinese market have told us that the Home Office and its agencies privilege bureaucracy over economic growth. Managing directors across Britain say that visa-related red tape regularly frustrates their efforts to conduct business with Chinese nationals smoothly, efficiently and professionally.

While these bureaucratic hurdles may seem trivial from a European perspective, they are very bad news indeed in a business culture where a perceived lack of respect can result in loss of face, and sometimes in a loss of trade altogether.

There are four groups affected by visa issues, each of which impacts Britain’s ability to trade with China. While some ministers have voiced concerns on these issues, the government – and the Home Office in particular – must do more to show that they are listening to the concerns of British businesses trading with China.

First, business visitors. We might expect this Government to do all it can to attract short-term visits from the businesspeople that come here to buy our goods and services, supply our manufacturers, or invest in companies and premises. Instead, they are asked to fill out an unnecessarily long and hostile form in English, visit one of just 12 application centres in a country 38 times bigger than the UK, and pay more than they would for a Schengen visa (which would give them access to 25 continental European countries). Some argue these procedures, coupled with a lack of aviation connections to emerging Chinese cities, are actually putting Chinese investors off from coming to the UK altogether.

Second, inbound tourism. We in Britain are not attracting as large a share of the exploding Chinese tourist market as we should. There is strong research showing that Chinese tourists who do manage to get here actually spend more money on each and every day of their visit than tourists from other Western countries do. As the Chinese middle class continues to grow, and their appetite for foreign travel increases apace, inaction on visa policies would be an own goal for the British retail, hospitality and transport sectors.

Third, students. Higher education is one of the UK’s export strengths, but visa restrictions have seen the reputation of our universities seriously damaged in fast growing economies like China, with thousands of potential customers put off. These students are not just of short-term economic benefit to Britain’s university towns. Instead, they need to be seen as Britain’s trade partners of tomorrow – cultivating and growing their business links with the UK long after they return home to cities and towns across China. They often also come from influential families, with parents in charge of investment and trade decisions for Chinese firms.

Fourth, skilled workers. Many Chamber member companies use fluent Chinese speakers to make deals happen. With BCC research showing that only 0.4% of British businesspeople feel comfortable conducting business in Chinese, that need is set to increase. So from the growing IT firm in Hastings to the equipment exporter in Lancashire, businesses need to be able to get skilled native Chinese-speakers into the UK in order to grow export markets. They also need access to the superb technical and engineering skills that China produces in great quantities – at least in the short-term, when those skills are not available to them amongst the labour force here at home. It can take an SME six months to get a sponsor’s licence to employ a Chinese national by which time the opportunities have often passed.

Britain faces a global race for Chinese commerce, investment and talent. It’s time to lower the costs of visas to Chinese businesspeople and visitors, speed up their processing from weeks to days, reinstate provisions in student visas that allow Chinese nationals to work in the UK for a short period upon completion of their studies, and ensure the points-based system takes account of Chinese workers’ language and technical skills.

Simplifying the visa regime is in the interest of British trade, competitiveness, and future growth.

John Longworth is director-general of the British Chambers of Commerce